New Jersey Commission on Spinal Cord Research Awards $3.36 Million in Grants

The New Jersey Commission on Spinal Cord Research (NJCSCR) awarded 17 grants totaling nearly $3.36 million to New Jersey universities to stimulate new research into the field of spinal cord repair and regeneration during state fiscal year 2008.

More than 250,000 people in the U.S. have spinal cord injuries, including more than 6,000 in New Jersey.

The research funded through these grants holds great promise for the development of new therapies and potential cures for paralysis and other consequences of spinal cord injury, said New Jersey Health and Senior Services Commissioner Heather Howard.

Since its creation by the Legislature in 1999, NJCSCR has awarded 121 grants to 89 scientists who have established numerous collaborations in New Jersey and elsewhere.

The grantees have advanced their research by obtaining additional funding from the National Institutes of Health and other agencies, said John Del Colle, NJCSCR chairman. They have also published more than 50 articles in major scientific publications, and presented their work at numerous scientific conferences.

NJCSCR grants include one-and two-year individual research grants; post-doctoral and graduate fellowships; one-time grants to support start-up costs for spinal cord research facilities in New Jersey; and five-year grants supporting spinal cord research.

For more information about applying for a research grant, including application deadlines, call 609-292-4055 or visit the commission website at www.state.nj.us/health/spinalcord. Written inquiries can also be sent to The New Jersey Commission on Spinal Cord Research, P.O. Box 360, Trenton, NJ 08625.

NJCSCR approved applications for nine individual research grants and eight fellowship grants at the following institutions in state fiscal year 2008:

§New Jersey Insititute of Technology, Bioengineering

§Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Biomedical Engineering

§Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Cell Biology & Neuroscience

§Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Chemical Biology

§Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience

§University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School

§University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

The grant recipients are:

Individual Research Grants

Principal Investigator  Melitta Schachner, Ph.D.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience